Meshullam ben Jacob of Lunel

Meshullam ben Jacob ha-Kohen of Lunel was a widely respected scholar and philanthropist in Provence. The traveler Benjamin of Tudela described Meshullam and his five sons as ascetics devoted exclusively to study. Under Meshullam’s influence, Provence became an important center of learning and translation, notably with the translations of Judeo-Arabic works into Hebrew by Judah Ibn Tibbon (1120–after 1190), which were supported by Meshullam. Meshullam composed a legal work on the laws of kosher food titled Minute Prohibited Substances (Isur mashehu) and a lost work of parables, presumably about ethics. Meshullam’s sons—including Asher ben Meshullam ha-Kohen of Lunel—were significant talmudists in their own right, but his most important student was undoubtedly Abraham ben David of Posquières (1125–1198), known as Rabad.